123: Fields

Looking back at Dunhearth behind me, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much had changed in such a short amount of time. I had been worried about whether I’d make it back to see my friends—no, this time I was confident I would be back.

The path ahead led through fields and on a smooth cobbled road. I could already see a light dusting of snow on the ground; it wouldn’t be long now until we were in the middle of winter itself.

Micca pulled her horse up to ride alongside my own. “Are you excited to finally reach the capital?”

I let out a chuckle. “Yes, and no. I’m nervous about what’s coming, but excited all the same. You?”

“Same. Mostly excited—just nervous about how I’ll go. Usually, from what I’ve been told, when I was thinking about moving to Boltron, merchants only go to the capital once they are well and truly set up. Very few start there and succeed,” she explained.

“They won’t have buffing candies though,” I said with a smirk.

Micca nodded. “True, but I can’t just survive on your supplies. What if I sell out of everything in two weeks and you’re several months away from returning?”

Milo pulled up alongside both of us, joining the conversation. “It’s smart that you’re considering this, but what’s important is that you limit your stock. Fabricate a reason why you can only get three a week, as an example.”

Micca nodded. “Makes sense—create demand and scarcity to drive up the price.”

Their deeper conversation about the market in the capital, and the importance of advertising her wares to the wealthier clientele, lost me. But Micca seemed happy with the discussion.

I would need to make sure I prepared plenty of stock for her to sell by the time we reached the capital. I was kicking myself that we hadn’t purchased more vials or supplies. I had wanted to revisit the familiar market as well!

Looking over at the two of them, I asked, “Milo, are we going to pass a town that will have a good market for supplies on the way to the capital?”

Milo nodded. “Absolutely. The closer we get to the capital, the larger the towns will be, and we’ll see far more of them compared to our trip to Boltron. I think the best town to stock up in will be a place called Farnox. It’s a dungeon town—usually has lots of interesting items.”

I looked at Milo wide-eyed. “The town has a dungeon?”

Milo shook his head. “No, not in the town. It’s the closest town to the dungeon, so most dungeon runners work out of the town, and almost every merchant stops there on the way in or out of the capital.”

“Will we see the dungeon?” I asked excitedly.

“No, we likely won’t see this dungeon. I’m sure at some stage in your adventuring career you’ll enter one, but it’ll likely be a smaller one—like the one south of Boltron, or the one north of Elarith Vale,” Milo explained.

“Is it because this one is too difficult?” I was curious now. I had learned nothing about dungeons, and they always fascinated me.

“Not really the difficulty—that scales based on how far you get. But it’s a matter of time. Visiting a dungeon isn’t a small task. The easier ones can take weeks; the harder ones… we’re talking months, even over a year. So much so that some dungeons have entire communities inside them,” Milo said.

My mind was racing at the thought. I had heard that you could make a fortune in a dungeon and find amazing, rare and magical items. It even had its own dedicated stat from the system!

***

We travelled in silence for a long while, just the sound of the wagon on stone as we rode, taking in the surroundings. I was admiring just how much farmland there was. I had never realised it until now. When we went the other way, there were plenty of fields, but very quickly we ran into trees along the road.

I had been running Arcane Foraging on and off, mostly to see if anything showed up, so I was caught off guard when a notification flashed.

Notification:

You have reached level 5 in Chef’s Pantry.

You have reached level 5 in Arcane Foraging.

You have 3 available Evolution Quests.

…

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Congratulations! Your Arcane Foraging skill has 3 available Evolution Quests:

• Use Arcane Foraging for 9 straight hours: 0/9
• Discover 3 rare or better ingredients using Arcane Foraging: 0/3
• Discover 3 unique carcasses using Arcane Foraging: 0/3

Two things stood out to me. The first was that there was no evolution quest for the pantry skill. Did it just not evolve? Was that a thing?

The next thing that stood out was the foraging quests—they seemed… easy?

I could just pull out a carcass right now and use my foraging ability to see it, and that would count, right? Then there was simply running the skill for nine hours. I didn’t even need to find anything?